Middle Eastern countries face new crisis
At least two people have died and several others have been injured in the Beirut shootings. The incident occurred alongside a protest rally organized by the Shiite Hezbollah group demanding the removal of a judge from the investigation of last year's catastrophic explosion in the port of the Lebanese capital. A bloody exodus could herald new conflicts in an Arab country plagued by inter-community conflicts.
Photo: AP
Hundreds of black-clad Hezbollah supporters and allies gathered in front of the Beirut Palace of Justice on Thursday to call on Judge Tark Bitar to be removed from investigating an explosion in a port in the Lebanese capital, accusing him of bias and the fact that & ndash; “ An American slave. & # 39; & # 39;
The shooting took place on the border of Beirut, home to Christians and Shiite Muslims. According to the Arab channel Al Jazeera, gunfire could be heard from the rooftops of Tayyon. The shooting forced angry protesters to flee.
Thanks to the intervention of the army, the Lebanese army managed to detain one of the gunners. But for now, their identity and belonging to one force or another is being investigated.
As reported by Al Jazeera; at least two people were killed and 12 wounded in the Lebanese Red Cross as a result of the incident.
The Prime Minister of the Republic, Najib Mikati, called on the Lebanese to calm down and recommended that the army leave civilians to the area that became the scene of the events. The military has warned that it will shoot anyone who opens fire.
As for his part, Hezbollah and the Amal movement have called on their supporters to remain calm and “ not to fall into vicious quarrels.“
The incident was amid a sharp rise in tensions over an investigation into a devastating explosion in the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. Protesters gathered in the Lebanese capital two days after Judge Bitar shot the Secretary-General of Hezbollah. The harshest criticism of Hassan Nasrallah. A Shiite leader accuses judges of “political persecution” by officials during an investigation.
Al Jazeera explains that Tarek Bitar spent several months trying to harass a number of former Lebanese ministers associated with Allied Hezbollah. another Shiite movement, Amal. Ex-ministers were suspected of criminal negligence. The judge also demanded that the head of the security service, Major General Abbas Ibrahim, and the head of state security, Major General Tony Saliba, be summoned to resign. However, the Ministry of the Interior and the Supreme Defense Council did not give permission.
Many Lebanese see the work of a judge as the last hope for justice, but many political leaders in the country condemn it as distorted and distorted.
On Tuesday, two of the former ministers arrested by the judge filed a legal complaint that forced Bitar to temporarily suspend the investigation. The European Union and the US State Department have called for an unrestricted resumption of the investigation into last year's tragedy in the Lebanese capital.
Recall that a powerful explosion in the port of Beirut killed more than 200 people and injured more than 6500. Then exploded a huge supply of ammonium nitrate, which was stored in port warehouses in dangerous conditions for many years. The incident in Beirut was celebrated as one of the largest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded and the most devastating single incident in Lebanese history. In August 2020, entire neighborhoods of the country's capital were destroyed overnight. Property damage was estimated at more than $ 15 billion.
Still & nbsp; none of the officials was convicted in connection with last year's disaster. Relatives and friends of the victims of the explosion demand the punishment of those responsible.
Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Najib Mikati continue to publicly support Judge Bitar. According to the prime minister, Lebanon cannot stand the appeal of the second judge from the investigation of the explosion. However, ministers associated with Hezbollah, the Amal Movement, reportedly have, and some of their allies, have been pressured by the cabinet to take a stand against Bitar.
According to the emirate edition of Gulf News, a Lebanese court on Thursday rejected a request to dismiss the judge. For the second time in a month, the judiciary ruled in favor of Bitar, which is welcomed by human rights groups and relatives of the victims of the explosion as a symbol of judicial independence. The decree, which takes effect immediately, will allow Bitar to continue investigating the blast on August 4.
Much more disturbing & ndash; rather than the conflict itself over a judge investigating last year's explosion & ndash; Lebanon appears to be in a state of severe socio-economic crisis.
The World Food Program (WFP) estimates that food prices in the country have risen by 628 percent in just two years, exacerbating the Lebanese economic crisis, which has left three-quarters of the population in poverty and the Lebanese pound depreciated by about 90 percent. percent.
The food crisis has worsened in recent months due to fuel shortages and rising prices. Of course, the coronavirus pandemic has contributed to the sad situation in the Middle East. And then there were problems with energy sources.
The Lebanese government has been phasing out fuel subsidies since June. In less than a month, the authorities have quadrupled gasoline prices in an effort to cope with a severe fuel shortage. The next day, the earth was plunged into a power outage & ndash; there was no electricity: electricity provided by the state was almost completely cut off, and diesel prices for private generators also rose sharply – if fuel could be found at all.
The work of the largest power plants in the country (Deir Ammar and Al-Zahrani) has been stopped & ndash; only the army saved the situation. The army supplied the power engineers with 6 million liters of fuel, only then did the energy networks return to normal operation. It is true that the supply of electricity will be limited to a few hours a day, as has happened in recent months.
In this context, the Lebanese Ministry of Economy has recently been partly due to the weakening of the national currency, as well as the increase in the price of bread & ndash; for the sixth time this year!
And this combination of various factors, which put many Lebanese in dire need, multiplied by the specifics of the socio-political life of multi-denominational Lebanon, could lead to an explosion, a comparison that the horrific images of ports will look like in August 2020. pale.
A video from the riots in Beirut has appeared: there was shooting everywhere
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